"I reckon I'd have got shed of 'em somehow, for I was resting up on top of my man, but that stinging lizard of a woman got her claws into the neck of my bathing-suit and r'ared back on it. Dave, she skinned me out of that garment the way you'd skin out an eel, and--there I was! You never heard such a yelling as went up. And I didn't hear all of it, either, for I just laid back my ears and went through those sight-seers like a jack-rabbit. I never knew a man could run like I did. I could hear people holler, 'Here he comes,' 'There he goes,' 'Yonder he went,' but I was never headed. I hurdled the sea-wall like an antelope, and before they got eyes on me I was into my bath-house. "When I'd got dressed, I sneaked up to the Galvez for a drink. In the bar were a lot of stockmen, and they asked me where I'd been. I told 'em I'd been nursing a sick lodge member, and they said: "'Too bad! You missed the damnedest fight since Custer was licked. We couldn't get very close, for the jam, but it was great!' "The story went all over Galveston. The husband swore he'd kill the man who attacked his wife, and the newspapers called on the police to discover the ruffian." There was a protracted silence; then Law controlled his voice sufficiently to say: "It's fortunate he didn't recognize you to-night." "Maybe he did. Anyhow, his wife is the new dressmaker Paloma's hired. I 'ain't got a chance, Dave. That story will ruin me in the community, and Paloma will turn me out when she learns I'm a--a lady-pincher." "What are you going to do about it?" Blaze sighed. "I don't know, yet. Probably I'll end by running from those scorpions, like I did before." The next morning at breakfast Paloma announced, "Father, you must help Dave hunt down these cattle thieves." "Ain't that sort of a big order?" Blaze queried. "Perhaps, but you're the very man to do it. Ricardo Guzman is the only person who knows the Lewis gang as well as you do." Jones shook his head doubtfully. "Don Ricardo has been working up his own private feud with that outfit. If I was the kind that went looking for a fight, I wouldn't have paid freight on myself from the Panhandle down here. I could have got one right at home, any morning before breakfast." "Ricardo Guzman is something of a black sheep himself," Law spoke up. "Pshaw! He's all right. I reckon he has changed a few brands in his time, but so has everybody else. Why, that's how 'Old Ed' Austin got his start. If a cowman tells you he never stole anything, he's either a dam' good liar or a dam' bad roper. But Ricardo's going straight enough now." "He has lost his share of stock," Paloma explained, "and he'll work with you if father asks him. You go along with Dave---" "I'm too busy," Blaze demurred, "and I ain't feeling good. I had bad dreams all night." "I don't want you around here this morning. That new dressmaker is coming."